Drawing from images like this one at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, scientists believe they found the "God particle." Ethics and Religion Talk considers what that means for theology.AP File Photo

GRAND RAPIDS, MI - The so-called "God-particle" has won this year's Nobel Prize in physics. In scientific terms, discovery of the Higgs boson apparently is a big deal for human understanding of the universe.

But what does it mean for religion? Does the "God-particle" prove or disprove God?

Many of Ethics and Religion Talk’s most devoted readers and commenters are not followers of a religious tradition and do not believe in God. Often, they bring various scientific and philosophical challenges to the discussions. One such comment came via email from Bill Gill:

“Now that scientists have discovered the so-called ‘God-particle,’ we are left more than ever to wonder if we have been dealing in total fantasies for all these millennia. What can we believe now? Supposedly, without this particle, nothing, 'no thing,’ could coalesce. So does that make the God particle ‘God?' If God formed heaven and earth and all the stars that shine, it could not have happened without the particle.

"Will new religions form around the 'God-particle?' I am 98-percent atheist, 2-percent agnostic and anxious to have you take up this question.”

• Sister Mary Timothy Prokes, a member of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist in Lowell

“The term ‘God-particle’ came from the title of a popular science book by Leon Lederman, former director of Fermilab (high-energy physics research center). Blogger Marcelo Gleiser writes that ‘of course, the particle has nothing godlike about it. It’s a hypothetical particle. Its main job is to give masses to other particles.’

“The world’s largest atom-smasher, located beneath the borders of Switzerland and France, has enabled physicists to bring about collisions between two protons and study their decay to verify the ‘Higgs boson’ theory regarding the origin of mass. Last July they announced that the results of their research confirmed the existence of the long-sought particle. It was a momentous advance in physics, but hardly an explanation for God. Science and faith are not two opposed modes of understanding truth. Rather, the marvels of the cosmos opened through scientific discoveries can invite ever greater depths of faith.

“‘The Higgs boson,’ says Clara Moskowitz in Live Science Senior Writer, ‘is associated with a field called the Higgs field, theorized to pervade the universe. As other particles travel through the field, they acquire mass much as swimmers moving through a pool get wet, the thinking goes.’

“From the infinitesimally small to the utterly immense, material creatures underscore the infinite splendors of God who created the universe from ‘nothing, no thing.’ If earth and ‘all the stars that shine...could not have happened without the particle,’ the wonder is that it was the gift of a loving, personal God who knew what delight its discovery would bring to human persons.”

• The Rev. Nurya Love Parish, an associate priest of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids

“The Higgs-Boson, known colloquially as the ‘God particle,’ was tentatively confirmed to exist last March. This subatomic particle was theorized to exist for many years, but only the development of the Large Hadron Collider enabled the discovery of the Higgs Boson.

“What impact this discovery will have on religion is still unknown. The questioner seems to presume that religions can be proven or disproven, and that religion can be proven to be fantasy. I disagree. Rather, I see religion as story, ritual and language for the ineffable, mysterious, and unspeakable.

“The root of the word ‘religion’ is the Latin word ‘ligio’ which means to tie or bind. (The word ‘ligament,’ the tissue which connects our bones, comes from the same root.) As the questioner describes, the experience of human life is so astonishing that it invariably leads to our desire to worship and relate to our Creator. Religion exists to re-connect human beings to the Source of Existence, and thus to one another. Different religions posit different descriptions of that Source, but all religion exists for the purpose of re-connection. I doubt that a single type of particle, even one nicknamed the ‘God particle,’ can inspire the devotion of millions as the traditional world religions do.”

My take:

Why would the discovery of a fundamental particle building block of matter preclude the possibility of God creating the particle and using it to create the universe?

It seems to me that some of our religious traditions have invited Mr. Gill’s question by blurring the lines between religion and science. A tradition which claims that Genesis and "creation science" teach the scientific and historical account of the beginnings of our world is claiming scientific truth as religious truth. When religion claims that scientific discoveries like the "Big Bang" are encoded into Genesis, then a skeptic is justified in expecting that a new scientific discovery not accounted for in Biblical texts will destroy the basis for religion.

I reject the claim that Biblical texts intend to teach either science or the history of creation/evolution. Therefore the discovery of a new piece of information about how matter is created or sustained fascinates me, but does not affect my understand of God.

Ethics and Religion Talk is compiled and written by David Krishef, rabbi at Congregation Ahavas Israel in Grand Rapids. Krishef takes questions from readers and shares them with a panel of clergy, then provides the responses in collaboration with MLive.com reporter Matt Vande Bunte. The views expressed are those of the panelists and do not necessarily represent the official perspectives of their congregations or denominations. Please submit questions from your own day-to-day encounters to EthicsAndReligionTalk@gmail.com.